Sunday, August 31

Saturday, August 30

Cubicle Kudzu or other fast growing plants: "I just moved from a cube to an office. My only natural light, however, is a 3' x 3' window above the door. What I'd like to do is find something that grows quickly, the equivalent of Cubicle Kudzu (tm) and cover at least a wall with vines to soften the glaring white untextured drywall.
Is there a specific phrase I should be using when searching for plants that thrive in low-light conditions? 'Mushroom' ?

book recommendation? or Bamboo in the Desert: "Craniac,
Call me Eric, Mr. Layton just sounds way too formal! I purchased all but one of my bamboos by mail. Several from Tradewinds in Oregon (Tradewinds Bamboo Nursery) and a couple from Bamboo Headquarters in California (Bamboo Headquarters). The one I did not get by mail I was able to snag from the Peace Gardens. As far as local suppliers, I have seen Black Bamboo (Ph. nigra) and Yellow Groove Bamboo (Ph. aureosulcata) at Cactus & Tropicals and at Millcreek Gardens. They usually sell out quickly in the spring. The plants are in 5-7 galllon pots and I believe they come from Monrovia Nursery. Good luck on finding what you like, and keep the forum up to date on your progress. "

Thursday, August 28

ABS - Growing Bamboo in the Northeast: "How can bamboos grow in this climate? To grow bamboos, New England gardeners must be willing to accept the challenge of working with a plant that normally doesn’t grow in their climactic zone. And they must also understand that the taller bamboos will not grow to the height they would reach in Zones 5 or warmer. In a particularly hard Zone 4 winter (worst case scenario: a bare ground January, minus 30°F with wind) most bamboos will act like herbaceous perennials, losing leaves and stems to ground level. For most Zone 4 gardeners, this shouldn’t be too much of a shock since this is the norm for most plants in our area. "

AMERICAN SPLENDOR / **** (R): "The Letterman sequences have the fascination of an approaching train wreck. Pekar really was a regular on the program in the 1980s, where he did not change in the slightest degree from the real Harvey. He gave as good as he got, until his resentments, angers and grudges led him to question the fundamental realities of the show itself, and then he was bounced. We see real Letterman footage, and then a fictional re-creation of Pekar's final show. Letterman is not a bad guy, but he has a show to do, and Pekar is a good guest following his own agenda up to a point, but then he goes far, far beyond that point. When I talked with Pekar at Cannes, he confided that after Letterman essentially fired him and went to a commercial break, Dave leaned over and whispered into Harvey's ear: 'You blew a good thing.'"

"I just got through this level. The previous level was really fun, too.

I was having trouble with those levels, until a guy on the Kuma discussion boards pointed out that early in the game you've got to give Saddam logistical support and send Donald Rumsfeld over to shake his hand or you'll never make it that far. The big mistake that most novice players make is lodging diplomatic protests when Saddam first gasses the Kurds. You've got to save your 'humanitarian outrage' points until late in the game when Saddam is no longer useful to you. Then you can use them to invade Iraq and take over the oil fields and replace the oil wells you lost when the Islamic revolution overthrew your puppet regime in Iran. "

From a discussion of a new video game that uses actual video footage from the Iraq war.

The DA's office says the evidence is being evaluated. Regardless of whether Gordon has to face a judge next month, law-enforcement sources say unofficial justice was already delivered. The Hell's Angels, who detained Gordon for police, were not, the sources say, gentle with sensitive areas of the rock star's body. "

Miller: The major difference is that at school everything is basically set up to help people learn, whereas at Beckley everything is set up to prevent anyone from learning anything. If you're going to get a GED there, you have to do it on your own. On the other hand, the two teaching environments are similar in that they're both trying to produce the strange phenomenon of educated ignorance "

Nick Denton: "I've just been passed a press release from Grove, saying they've bought the book rights to Salam Pax's diaries. (Salam Pax, for those on another planet, is the pseudonymous Baghdad blogger, who became an instant celebrity during the war.) The book will be called SALAM PAX: The Internet Diaries of Life Inside Baghdad -- though the Grove website has the title as My Name is Salam Pax, which sounds better, even if it is a cliche. No word yet on the advance but, given the competition for Salam's book, it must be well into the six figures. Which would make Salam one of the richest men in Iraq -- if one excludes the local warlords and mullahs, that is. And they said no one would ever make money out of blogging."

Amazon.com: Music: Smiling Pets [IMPORT]: "1998 Japanese-only release on Sony Records featuring 18 covers of Brian Wilson-penned Beach Boys tunes by top names in the avant-garde area on the alternative rock spectrum, including Adventures In Stereo, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Olivia Tremor Control, Secret Chiefs 3, Jim O'Rourke and Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her (hadn't heard of them either, but anybody who names their band after an XTC song at least has their heart in the right place!). "

Plastic: Dark Side Of The Beach — The Smile That Ate Brian Wilson's Brain: "I'm not sure whether or not it's still in print, but if you can find a copy, Brian's autobiography Wouldn't It Be Nice contains a fairly lengthy section about the Smile sessions. After Brian became convinced his friend Jules Siegel's wife was a witch who was using ESP to confuse his brain, Capitol cancelled the album, and the band set about trying to make some workable music out of the session reels (or what was left of them--Brian erased some). He makes this comment about what was eventually released as 'Heroes And Villians':

It's hard to remember exactly how I originally intended the song to sound... "

Plastic: Dark Side Of The Beach — The Smile That Ate Brian Wilson's Brain: "'The sad truth about the demise of Smile as an album proper, was mirrored by the simultaneous demise of Wilson's confidence as a songwriter and producer. Under pressure from the record company to have a hit single and under pressure from the rest of the Beach Boys to shy away from the experimental direction the album was taking, Wilson began to crack - and cracking along with him, were the last vestiges of a great musical vision. "

Paul Newman Is Still HUD: "Unreliable sources report that the Fox suit has inspired Paul Newman, the actor, to file a similar suit in federal court against the Department of Housing and Urban Development, commonly called HUD. Mr. Newman claims piracy of personality and copycat infringement.
In the 1963 film 'HUD,' for which Mr. Newman was nominated for an Academy Award, the ad campaign was based on the slogan, 'Paul Newman is HUD.' Mr. Newman claims that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, called HUD, is a fair and balanced institution and that some of its decency and respectability has unfairly rubbed off on his movie character, diluting the rotten, self-important, free-trade, corrupt conservative image that Mr. Newman worked so hard to project in the film. His suit claims that this 'innocence by association' has hurt his feelings plus residuals."

Monday, August 18

The Console Wars, II: "A 20 year-old male will watch a story about a cartoon fish if it's funny and he has his girlfriend with him as a gaydar shield. He will not be caught dead watching a cartoon fish if he and his cartoon friends frequently and spontaneously break into song about how wonderful life is under the sea, even if said male works as an oceanographer and agrees wholeheartedly with the assertions contained therein. It has nothing to do with the quality of entertainment; it has everything to do with how foolish one feels doing it. "

Sunday, August 17

FREAKY FRIDAY / *** (PG): "Anna believes Tess is remarrying with unseemly haste; she's going through what in a Disney movie passes for a rebellious phase, and in real life would be exemplary teenage behavior. "

Saturday, August 2

book recommendation? or Bamboo in the Desert: "I live north of Salt Lake City and have been growing bamboo for just over a year now. I have Phyllostachys nuda, aureosulcata aureocaulis, decora, glauca, and rubromarginata. The dry air is not too bad, but the first year is worse as far as leaf curling goes. If you keep the soil moist they should do OK. The winters can be harsh, I had some leaf loss last year but did not lose any branches and they all leafed out nicely in the spring. I have heard good things about Ph. decora and rubromarginata for tolerance to cold dry winds.
A book I would recommend for growing bamboo outdoors is 'The Gardeners Guide to Growing Temperate Bamboos' by Michael Bell. It deals with most of the varieties that can be grown in cold climates. If you want to stick with growing bamboo indoors, look for a tropical species that does not require a cold dormant period.
There are not too many public places to see bamboo but the International Peace Garden at Jordan Park in Salt Lake City has 3 different bamboos and Lagoon in Farmington has several varieties in a Japanese Garden next to the Samurai ride. I am always keeping my eyes open for bamboo plantings around the valley. "

Bamboo indoors?: "I have a Drepanostachys khasiana (a Himalayan mountain bamboo) that has lived in a very big Thai garden pot for six years. It lives inside from the end of October until the end of April, then it goes outside for the warm weather.

The soil gets refreshed every spring with new compost and a bit of sand and potting soil. If the 'boo outgrows the pot, it will get transplanted into a larger one. I haven't had to do that though because the pot it's in is humungous.

The biggest indoor problems are mealy bug and mites. Keeping humidity higher helps prevent mites, but mealy bug you have to watch for and spray the 'boo with warm soapy water that has a bit of liquid insecticide in it.

You also have to watch the water - can't overwater in winter or it will rot the roots. Pot up the 'boo in a soil mixture of 2 parts potting soil, 1 part sand and 2 parts good compost (rotted cow manure, etc.)."

Cabinet Magazine Online - The Floating Island: "Pykrete is the namesake of Geoffrey Pyke, who the Times of London once declared 'one of the most original if unrecognized figures of the present century.' His career began in 1914 when, as a teenager at Cambridge University, he landed a foreign correspondent job by using a false passport to sneak into wartime Germany. After getting tossed into a concentration camp, he fled the country in a daring daytime escape. In the 1920s, he virtually created progressive elementary education in Great Britain, all for the sake of his own son's education. Pyke financed his own school by brilliantly riding futures markets and controlling a quarter of the world's supply of tin, a ploy which brought him to financial ruin in 1929. He lived on as an eccentric hermit, publishing prescient warnings of Nazism and proposing one of the first media watchdogs. After the war, his freelance genius helped propel the creation of the National Health Service.3"